Mid-Shore Life

On Thursday, March 18, at 4:00 p.m., in the Easton branch of the Talbot County Free Library, naturalists from the Pickering Creek Audubon Center will present “Sounds of Spring,” a program for children 4 and older accompanied by an adult.  All library programs are free and open to the public, but children do need to be pre-registered for this program.  For more information, call the library at 410-822-1626, or visit www.tcfl.org.

Building African-American Minds and Freedom Rowers Team Together to Teach

African-American Boys to Swim

40 Boys Gain Confidence and Technique While Learning How to Swim

Easton, Maryland – February 24, 2010 – Recently, middle and high school-aged team members from Freedom Rowers and Freedom Rowers adult volunteers began working with 40 elementary school-aged boys that are participants in the Building African-American Minds (BAAM) program to teach them how to swim.

Freedom Rowers, an Easton-based youth rowing team for sixth through twelfth graders that was established in 2004, requires all team members to pass a swim test prior to joining the team as rowing is an on-water sport. Since starting the program, Diana Lobien, founder and head coach of Freedom Rowers, noticed that no African-American male middle school and high-school youth were joining the team. Lobien remarks, “Upon further research I learned that one of the main reasons why African-American students were not signing up for the team was because of the swim test requirement. Speaking in very general terms, swimming is not as prevalent a recreational sport in the African-American culture in our area and therefore a number of African-American children have not yet learned how to swim. One of our goals for Freedom Rowers is to support a culturally diverse team that closely matches the demographics of our area. We set out to open the doors even wider to ensure that African-American children in our community could participate in this high aerobic, team-oriented, on-water sport that is a huge gateway for scholarships for higher education.”

The Avalon Theatre Presents Ladysmith Black Mambazo Saturday, February 27 at 8 pm Call 410-822-7299 for tickets. www.avalontheatre.com

 "Hot off a 2009 Grammy win, LSBM’s music is the embodiment and soul of South Africa. The world was introduced to them when they heard their stunning harmonies on Paul Simon’s “Graceland” and they have continually shared their magic with musical luminaries such as Josh Groban, Taj Mahal, and George Clinton. Founder Joseph Shabalala formed this group with his brothers 40 years ago and while the band continues to evolve and change with the times, the one thing that stays the same is their energetic and completely heart lifting dances. Keep an eye out for the red socks."

The Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra, under the direction of Mr. David T. Evans, will perform in concert on:

Sunday, February 21, 2010, at 3:00 p.m. at:  The Avalon Theatre, 40 East Dover Street, Easton, Maryland

Admission:  $20 / $15 students and seniors (for concert information and tickets, please call the Avalon

Theatre Box Office at 410-822-7299 or Ticketmaster at 410-481-SEAT).

The Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra is delighted to be returning to the Eastern Shore after a long hiatus.  The last time the BMO appeared here was at Easton’s Festival of the Arts in 1990.  The concert program will include light classical pieces as well as a potpourri of marches, rags, show tunes, and other traditional and contemporary mandolin compositions.  Among the highlights will be a mandolin solo by the orchestra’s director, David Evans, and vocal selections by Italian-born soprano Beatrice Gilbert.  Come see Baltimore’s other orchestra!

Hampton Inn Easton is offering a “blizzard” rate to any companies that have displaced workers and any resident that has a power outage in the local area that need overnight accommodations in Easton this weekend. We have some warm vegetable crab soup during the afternoon and fresh baked cookies each evening. Super Bowl will showing in our lobby Sunday. Call 410-822-2200 to confirm your reservation.

Your Friends,

Hampton Inn Easton
8058 Ocean Gateway
Easton, MD 21601

EASTON—Create with classes from the artists of Gallery 26,
Easton’s newest art gallery with studio and classroom space for
artists-in-residence. Classes—for both adults and kids—range from
knitting and mosaics to printmaking and jewelry design. (See below for
the listing of classes and registration information.) Gallery 26 is
located at 26 W. Dover Street, in the old Cherry’s building.

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May 1, 2010

Retrace the 10-mile path Frederick Douglass walked from St. Michaels to his confinement at the Talbot County jail in Easton after a failed escape attempt in April 1836.

His imprisonment at the jail set the stage for a sequence of events that led to his eventual escape to freedom. His accomplishments changed history and made extensive improvements in the lives of all Americans.

Walkers, runners and wheelchair athletes will retrace this historic route to raise monies for the creation of a memorial to honor Frederick Douglass on the Talbot County Courthouse lawn. Half of the race proceeds will be given to the YMCA of Talbot County.

After the Race, join the Celebration in Easton, now commemorating its 300th anniversary…lots of music, food, vendors and fun!

For more information or to register, visit www.frederickdouglassymca10miler.com/.

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